Chael Sonnen's failed drug tests taint amazing MMA legacy

Last week, UFC fan favorite and West Linn native Chael Sonnen announced his retirement from mixed martial arts. The announcement came on the heels of a positive test for steroids. This was the second time in his career that Sonnen has tested positive. For many, something like this would result in a big fat black eye and some walking papers. However, in Sonnen's case, his boss had his back and people seem more interested in his retirement segment on Fox Sports 1's UFC Tonight than the results of the drug test itself. Over the last 4 or 5 years, Sonnen has created a persona that people can't seem to get enough of. He is charismatic; he cuts promos that would make Dusty Rhodes proud, and on his best night he can compete with any man in the world at 185 pounds. But that's the problem. When you compete in the UFC you have to have your best night, every night. Chael Sonnen had many great moments in the UFC but never had his best night when it really counted. For all the promos and all the prefight hype, Sonnen failed to ever secure a UFC title. Even when he had the great Anderson Silva dead to rights with less than 2 minutes to go in a title fight, Chael couldn't finish the job. To make matters worse, following that loss, Sonnen had his first positive steroid test that showed his testosterone levels to be 17 times higher than that of a normal man. All that aside, we must remember, Sonnen is quite simply the best MMA fighter to ever touch a microphone, and his ability to sell a fight will never be rivaled. But for me, I can't look past the missteps that Sonnen made on his way to the top. Nor can I look past the ones he made on his fall to the bottom.